You know how we're an art family...

Yarn Along

2012-02-01T08:16:00.001-05:00

For my Yarn Along this week, I have all new projects to show you. (That feels good to say!) I'm occasionally working on this Aviatrix hat for a friend's baby. The pattern was just so cute that I couldn't resist. The yarn is Louisa Harding Albero that I found on sale super cheap. I'm still reading John Taylor Gatto's Weapons of Mass Instruction and getting ready for our virtual book club's first discussion this Saturday. (Join us, won't you!)

I also started a project for myself. Yay! My first knit for myself since last summer. I have long wanted to make a February Lady sweater for myself in a purple color (very amethyst for February, I think). When I saw this Malabrigo worsted in Uva, it screamed February Lady to me. My goal is to be able to wear my February Lady for at least part of February. :)

Isn't the slight color variation gorgeous!

What are you working on right now?

a tale of two sweaters

2012-01-31T17:32:00.000-05:00

Although I really did not need another online habit pulling me away from my other chores and responsibilities, when Pinterest came calling she was so enchanting and enticing that I took the plunge and joined her for a dance. She wooed me with her lovely crafts, charming home projects, delectable cuisines and stylish apparel. Before I knew it, we were going steady, and I brought her home to meet the family.

When I found 2 projects that needed felted sweater (already have those on hand, check!), Finn and I decided to show off Ms. Pinterest a bit and see if she could do a bit more than be an online friend.

We gathered our felted sweaters, embroidery floss, and I melted some wax, while I examined the many glass jars that are tucked into (literally) every nook and cranny of my kitchen, searching for the next jar candleholder.

The ex-raw honey jar it is! One the wax was poured and cooling with a wick centered, Finn and I made quick work of Pinterest project #1, courtesy of Mamaroots.

Although I didn't really follow her pattern, just freehand cut the hat, the idea is the same. Finn glued on a wooly beard while I sewed the hat, and another tomten joined the family.

Finn was taken aback by his brown hat, rather than the typical red one that tomten's wear.

But the tomten in my head was the old, old tomte from The Tomte's Christmas Porridge, and his hat is decidedly brown.

Finn didn't let the hat color bother him for long, he quickly found a small pottery bowl from my Art-o-mat collection and a fox from our window puzzle to perform The Tomten and the Fox.

His tomten happily shared his porridge with Reynard, the fox.

Then we had to read it again so he could act through his play one more time.

By the time we were through playing with the tomten, the candle was sufficiently cooled and I began the second Pinterest project of the day. I think the project would have gone more quickly if I had used the sleeve of a felted sweater like the pin shows, but I really wanted to use the design across the center of the sweater I felted.

I blanket stitched around the top and bottom of the sweater to give it a more finished look. What a warm and cozy winter candle!

Have you completed any Pinterest projects? Or are you resisting her woo?

green in winter

2012-01-30T16:34:00.000-05:00

Although yesterday was one of our cooler days over the last week, the temperatures in our area still hit the 50 degree mark, and we decided to throw on our jackets and take a small hike at one of our favorite little hiking spots. I was startled, although why, I'm not sure, to notice how green the forest was during this late-January hike. I thought we would have a frigid snap of weather at some point this winter, but we really haven't had much winter weather at all this year. I welcome the opportunity to spend more time outdoors, and to send the children outdoors, but I fear what this warm winter might mean for our summer. Alas, we enjoyed our hike choosing to remain in the moment and enjoy the relative warmth of our mid-winter day.

birthday handknits

2012-01-29T15:23:00.001-05:00

Some of you caught a glimpse of Elizabeth's birthday sweater in yesterday's post. She slipped it on almost as soon as she finished opening her gifts. Yay for appreciated handknits!

I was a tad nervous at how this sweater might fit since I used an adult x-small pattern and adjusted the body slightly shorter and the sleeves a little longer based on measurements I took of Elizabeth. I couldn't be more pleased though with how it turned out from a fitting perspective. She has about 1-2 inches to spare all the way around which is perfect for a sweater that *might* fit for a second winter.

The colors are perfect on her, which is no surprise since she chose the colorway of the yarn. She's such a bright ray of sunshine that bright colors suit her well.

The socks are nice and bright as well, although a slightly different colorway. They have enough of the same colors as the sweater, and Elizabeth never seems bothered by mix-and-match bright prints. (Here's an oldie but goodie to prove that point.)

I've come to the realization that with hand knit socks, unless you use elasticized yarn, they just don't want to stay up very well. And so Elizabeth has almost knee socks that are cozy and slouchy, although she doesn't seem to mind their tend to slouch.

So cozy in fact, that I almost want to steal them for myself!

celebrating Elizabeth

2012-01-28T19:56:00.000-05:00

Celebrating Elizabeth's 11th birthday today required 5 sleepover friends, much dressing up and dancing, a little bit of outside play, much torture of brothers, who are not used to being outnumbered by the girls, and some candlemaking thrown in for good measure.

And so we rung in 11 with as much style as possible. Also on this 11th celebration of Elizabeth's birth, we made a trip to the pet store where she spent some hard-saved cash on a hamster, thus completing the required 3 month waiting period to make sure she really wanted the hamster and would agree to perform all required tasks in caring for him. She is over-the-moon about our newest family member, Tiny Benny.

Following the sleepover fun, Elizabeth was treated like royalty as her brother's prepared her dinner throne.

Her requested dinner of cinnamon raisin mochi with sunbutter and maple syrup, corn on the cob, and fruit salad was served, along with some fresh salsa and sun-dried tomato hummus with chips.

She enjoyed her beloved mochi, eating more than twice as much as her brothers, and then made a wish and blew out her birthday ring candles.

Next came present opening, which we kept small and meaningful, a few new handknits, several books, and her big surprise, a Nikon Coolpix.

Quite the stylin' photographer we have now!

{this moment} - cabbage stamping

2012-01-27T06:11:00.001-05:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. See Soulemama to play along.

sprucing up the library

2012-01-26T16:50:00.000-05:00

Our library received a makeover about 2 months ago (has it really been that long?!) that seemed to take forever to finish because I waited until just before the holidays to begin, then of course, had no time to work on the curtains. The previous curtains in the library were actually the reason for the sprucing. They dry rotted right in the window (it's a southwest facing window), and they were sheer, which didn't work very well for our sometimes guest room anyway.

So after perusing etsy for what felt like months, I finally stumbled on a fabric I liked: It's a Hoot by Moda Fabrics in Pistachio. I *thought* the blue in the fabric would match the previous wall color, but alas, when the fabric arrived, the blue was more aqua, and the wall color was not going to be able to remain the same. So...we painted the walls celery, using a no-VOC paint, of course and then rearranged a bit. The lamp and end table were borrowed from other spots in the house where they weren't seeing much use. Fortunately it took me SO long to get around to sewing the new curtains, that my friend, Jenni, came to visit and offered to do the sewing (and even lined them!) for me, then had them completed and mailed back to me in a week. She's the best!

The everything wall received it's semi-annual sprucing at the same time and we decided, ahem, to buy a tv to hang on the library wall. While I was aghast at Paul's first mention of hanging a tv in here, neither of us have really ever liked the centerpiece, mantle-top tv in the family room, which was what we were trying to eliminate. The new tv in the library is not very large and hardly noticeable in a room with wall-to-wall randomness. Not to mention we rarely watch any kind of tv (we have no cable) so having it out of the way is wonderful.

We did keep Wills on the wall to keep us honest in our book buying. How can you look him in the eye and read a cheesy romance novel?!

Unfortunately the result of all the library sprucing and tv switching means that we are now left with a hole in our living room. Or a bare wall, more precisely. Over Christmas it worked well with some greenery, candles, and some tall glass trees. I couldn't leave the glass trees because they were just too Christmasy, and the greenery is not going to last forever so I need a good decorating idea for this space.

I'm sure we'll stumble across a sculpture or other art piece sometime that will be wonderful for this space, but I know that if I just go looking for one, it won't be perfect and probably will be too costly. Perfect art pieces need to be stumbled upon, I think. But if you have an idea for something to occupy the space for the short term, I'm all ears. :)

Yarn Along

2012-01-25T05:48:00.000-05:00

Ahem, still working on Elizabeth's birthday socks for the Yarn Along this week. Only another 3 days until her birthday, so I'm getting close on time, but since I'm nearly ready to begin the toe of the 2nd sock, I'm not too worried.

For my reading this week, I just started Weapons of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto. Eileen, of Little Acorn Learning, Valarie, of Jump Into A Book, and I were talking over the weekend about reading this book, and quickly our plan turned into a Virtual Book Club on Facebook. We are still welcoming new members before our first book discussion on 2/4 so please join us if you are so inclined. The book club button on the sidebar of my blog will remain if anyone would like to join for a later book.

I took a brief break from sock knitting over the weekend to make this cute rainbow cowl from Rhythm of Family. I have to say that even though I added a few stitches and used the right sized needles and yarn, it still turned out relatively small on Elizabeth (and she has the smallest head in the family!)

The cowl also rolls really badly making it impossible to see the rainbow, but I suppose it adds a bit of neck warmth. It was a quick knit from leftover yarn so it was hard to be too disappointed.

What are you working on right now?

in a fog

2012-01-24T08:50:00.000-05:00

The mood outside matches the mood in our home this morning. The fog and light rain has lasted for 4 days now and is starting to over stay it's welcome, and drippy, deadened blackberry brambles and elderberry bushes are not appreciated nearly as much as their spring and summer counterparts.

To top it off, Elizabeth woke up this morning with a tummy bug. For some reason, probably because I don't suffer the particular affliction of succumbing to tummy bugs myself, I am least equipped to fight these immunity lapses than colds, coughs and fevers.

So I am open to your advice, wisdom and suggestions. I do make a weak chamomile tea with a smidge of honey and pink salt to replenish hydration. I would love an aromatherapy suggestion or other external aid to help tummies that are not ready to accept food or liquid.

For now, she'll continue to sip her tea, and I'll be grateful that she's my least-afflicted-with-tummy-bugs child and hope that none of my other children succumb to a similar plight.

new virtual book club

2012-01-23T13:03:00.003-05:00

Our First Book to share together will be Weapons of Mass Instruction’ by John Taylor Gatto. Regardless of your schooling choices – this book will get you thinking about our current educational system and model!

Order the book from your library, Amazon or download it to your reader… read it and in between come on over with a cup of coffee to sit in on our Virtual Book Club Facebook Page! Pop on over any time to chat – you’re never behind!

In addition, our first ‘scheduled’ book discussion will be hosted by bloggers Eileen Straiton, Valarie Budayr and Joy Blaser on February 4^th where we will cover the Prologue through Chapter 1 of our book, asking questions and inspiring others as they read along.

{this moment} - making sachets

2012-01-20T06:07:00.000-05:00

seeking a blogging balance

2012-01-19T12:21:00.001-05:00

A week in the life of our family consists of 4 kids living here on 4 days, 2 kids on (most of) the remaining days, driving 8.5 miles to take and retrieve Elizabeth from school each day, driving an additional 44 miles to pick up the boys from their schools in a different town 2 days a week, 14-18 meals completely from scratch, cleaning (most of) the house, washing/drying/folding 10-12 loads of laundry, homeschooling (or something resembling that) Finn on 4 days, grocery shopping, blogging here on 4-5 days. And that doesn't even cover the reading aloud, helping with crafts, going for walks, poking around the yard or garden, knitting or anything else that happens at regular intervals that is impossible to quantify.

When I started The Book Children almost 2 years ago, I had the intention to share some of our family's and my children's favorite book with anyone who was interested in children's literature or just looking for a recommendation for books for their kids. Somewhere along the way, life changes happened, life became busier than usual, children kept growing up and time grew shorter and shorter.

But even though time for The Book Children fell short, I still held a spot in my heart for that space and longed to get back to it. I frequently find myself wanting to share books here that the kids are particularly enjoys as we go about our days. But I hold back because I know that really belongs over on The Book Children so I end up not sharing the books at all.

So after trying to come up with ways to incorporate The Book Children back into my day, I decided to try a few things that will hopefully keep balance in my life. I'm going to invite guest writers, probably mostly my older children, to review books that they've recently enjoyed. I also may end up posting here slightly less in effort to find a bit more time for The Book Children.

I'm not sure what will come of this new system, but I hope you'll join me over at The Book Children as I try to get things started again over there. And if you think you might want to contribute a post about a favorite book, send me an email (which you can find on my profile) and maybe we'll all find some new books to enjoy. :)

New posts at The Book Children can be found here and here.

Yarn Along and a birthday sweater

2012-01-17T21:18:00.001-05:00

For this week's Yarn Along, I'm still reading on Folks, this ain't normal. (Don't judge me.) For as long as it's taking me to get through, I really am still enjoying this book quite immensely.

I've also finished the first knee sock for Elizabeth's birthday socks. The second sock is barely begun, but I'm confident that I can finish in the next week and a half before her birthday. If there's anything the Christmas sock race gave me it's the luxury of time when I only have to knit 1 sock in 1.5 weeks instead of 3 pairs in 3 weeks. ;)

Her birthday sweater is finally finished, seamed and ready to go. I think she'll really enjoy this soft rainbow sweater. Self-striping yarn is always interesting to me when you have a style like raglan to see the thinner stripes grow wider at the top. The beauty of handmade, I guess.

This sweater was very simple as sweaters go, but my ravelry notes are here if you are interested.

weekending with the boatbabies

2012-01-15T18:52:00.001-05:00

We were thrilled to spend part of our weekend with Cindy and her boatbabies, who were in town for the weekend. The kids had a blast playing with sticks, splashing in mud, building legos, sending robots climbing down ziplines, you know, the usual. We always enjoy our time with Cindy and her kids, and today was no exception. There's nothing quite as special as spending some in real life time with the members of this lovely blogging community. ♥

{this moment} - the engineer is in

2012-01-13T06:19:00.000-05:00

a little bit of lovely

2012-01-12T10:41:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I had a conversation with a friend about hard times and negative thinking. The discussion mostly revolved around how focus and thoughts can improve or worsen a difficult time and how focusing on something positive or finding a few bright spots during the day can improve the situation. I've thought of the conversation several times since then.

As I was thinking of it yesterday, a verse popped into my head: whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely...think on these things. True, noble, right, pure, those I get. Those are virtues that lead to a better life. But lovely? Maybe it's not just a cliche that thinking more positive or lovely thoughts can improve your outlook. Maybe there is more value to finding what is lovely in your life than just a prosaic notion of "positive thinking".

And so I decided this morning to find 10 things that share a little bit of loveliness in my life, 10 things that make me smile or brighten my day.

~ the view from my bedroom window (and a large part of the reason why we settled on this house)

~ a recently discovered piece of pottery that I made years ago, stashed in the garage until I found a use for it

~ seeing little feet cozy and warm in a pair of socks that I knit

~ a random, single bud which bloomed quite late on my Christmas cactus

~ the maker of rainbows which hangs in my breakfast nook window and shines rainbows over half of the downstairs at different points during the day

~ these lovely glass orbs, which don't photograph well, but have hung from our ceiling bringing loveliness for over 7 years now. I never tire of this bit of lovely.

~ a nearly completed knitting project

~ a recent revamp of the art wall in our library and especially the sweet watercolor leaves Elizabeth made at school

~ a cup of tea in one of my handmade mugs (most of the mugs were made by me, this one is an exception)

~ a Christmas present for Paul, with a matching one for me, of course, because every couple needs matching iron pipes flanking their bed

I hope that noticing and appreciating the little bits of loveliness in my life can become a daily practice. What little bits of lovely are in your life right now?

Yarn Along

2012-01-11T06:45:00.002-05:00

This week's Yarn Along looks remarkable similar to last week's. Same knitting, same reading. I'm on the homeward stretch with Elizabeth's birthday sweater, the decreases of the second sleeve. I hope to finish it today and have the finished sweater to show you next week. Then maybe I'll get back to her birthday knee socks.

I'm also still thoroughly enjoying Joel Salatin's Folks, this ain't normal. He's such a great writer and has ideas I connect with for getting society back to a more "normal" place.

What are you working on right now?

carrot pennies

2012-01-09T13:50:00.000-05:00

Finn and I have incorporated cooking into our homeschooling quite a bit this year. Through most of the fall, we cooked soup each Monday. Now that we are getting back into the swing of things and the older kids have returned to school, I thought we might change our cooking just a bit.

I found a book at our local used bookstore a few months ago that I decided to add to Finn's gift of books at Christmas. Pretend Soup first caught my eye because the author is one of my favorite cookbook authors, Mollie Katzen. Her Moosewood Cookbook and Vegetable Heaven are two of my go-to books for simple vegetarian recipes so I immediately thought Pretend Soup might be a good fit for us as well.

My favorite aspect of this book is the directions given through pictures and simple words for young children to follow. The book also contains a more traditional recipe and directions on the preceding page for older children and to obtain a more precise measurement of ingredients.

Finn was thrilled to be making a recipe that he could add every ingredient and follow the directions all by himself.

And so we had carrot pennies, accompanied by cheese, rice crackers, apples and orange, for lunch, although the carrot pennies were mostly wavy because that wavy vegetable chopper is just irresistible. Could you imagine trying to fit pennies shaped like that in your change purse?

"I cooked these myself, right mama? I mean, you just helped a little bit, right?"

Delicious!

weekending

2012-01-08T12:38:00.001-05:00

{this moment} - colorful kitchen assistant

2012-01-06T05:51:00.000-05:00

winter book basket

2012-01-05T12:31:00.001-05:00

Earlier this week, I traded out the Christmas books in our seasonal book basket for our winter-themed books. I don't know if it's the beautiful artwork of winter books, but winter is probably my favorite collection of seasonal books. Between Jan Brett's lovely work in The Mitten and The Hat, among others, and many other classic winter books that have been with us for years, like The Tomten, Any Room for Me? and Snowflake Bentley, the winter collection of books holds so many of our favorites. Not to mention, winter tends to be the season we spend more time indoors gathered together reading.

We did acquire a few newbies for our basket this year, all found at our local used bookstore. When Winter Comes is a sweet story of the animals and where they go during winter. I particularly like the gentle illustration of this story. Sugaring contains a wonderful explanation and exploration of the process of sugaring maple trees. And Snow has the fun rhyming and seasonal play that you'd expect from a P D Eastman and Roy McKie book.

Finn's favorites, Owl Moon, a few of the My First Little House books and a couple of winter-themed Snipp Snapp Snurr books keep wandering away from the basket, and we have to continually corral them. I won't complain about that though!

What winter books are your favorites right now? We're always looking for some new favorites!

more kitchen brews

2012-01-04T16:30:00.003-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted about my adventures in the kitchen with cultured, fermented, and otherwise homemade brews. I just thought I would give a little update on my current goings on and successes in that department.

I recently discovered that I could much extend the life of my veggie broth by storing the mason jars in the freezer, which seems to make sense; I just don't think I realized how quickly broth could go rancid without proper storage (or preservatives.)

The yogurt operations around here have expanded, and I'm now making 2 varieties of cultured yogurt. Choices, choices! I loosely followed this method for making crock pot yogurt after receiving a crock pot for Christmas. My crockpot's "warm" setting isn't overly hot so I tend to switch it off and on every other hour or so until the yogurt is thick. I was able to use Stonyfield Farm plain yogurt as the starter for this variety so no expensive starter purchase required. This yogurt is thicker in general too so I don't really have to strain the whey to make it thick enough for the kids' liking.

In other news, I've decided to give up wheat for a while to see what kind of impact that might have on my digestion. I'm still consuming spelt that has been soaked or soured which I have prepared myself. That foray has been enhanced by the addition of this lovely lidded stoneware pan that Paul gifted me for Christmas. I love the longer narrow loaves it yields!

And it seems there is always some kind of jar fermenting or culturing on the counter. I discovered that the kids are much more receptive of the fermented ketchup when I omit the raw garlic, which was apparently making the ketchup "too spicy". I'm happy to let that go in favor of them liking the ketchup. Wild Fermentation made it's way into my hands on Christmas so I'm sure I'll have more fermentation experiments to share in the future!

My last kitchen-related Christmas gift was a kit for making mozzarella and ricotta.

This morning, I finally found a few minutes to make an attempt at cheese-making.

At the "slow stirring of the curds" stage, I was a little suspicious of how this was going to turn into an edible product, since I'm no Little Miss Muffet and would not eat curds and whey (or at least ones that looked like this. Although I do admit being a little curious as to whether they would squeak in my teeth the way Laura Ingalls Wilder described.

Then, I was flabbergasted at the sheer volume of whey left over from the cheese curdling.

Nearly 4 quarts total! I guess I'll be relying on this list to find some uses for all of this whey!

A pound of curds that mostly formed into a ball was left after straining off all of that whey.

After a bit more heating and stretching, a beautiful ball of mozzarella appeared, and I couldn't believe that I made my own cheese!

I have to admit that I'm regularly amazed at the things I'm learning to make that I never would have thought of attempting in the past. What fun! I'll continue to keep you posted on my kitchen experiments, but for now, I smell some soaked spelt soda bread that needs to be removed from the oven!

Yarn Along

2012-01-04T05:51:00.000-05:00

This week's Yarn Along finds me with less pressure to complete but still working on socks. ;) Elizabeth picked out yarn for a pair of knee socks and a sweater for her birthday at the end of the month. (Actually, she doesn't know what I'm making, I just asked her which colorway she preferred.)

She chose the Roller Skate rainbow pattern in Knit Picks' Chroma Worsted which I'm making a simple roll neck raglan sweater for her. She also picked the Moonlit colorway in Felici sock yarn, also by Knit Picks, for her knee socks.

The stripes don't exactly match, but the colors are close enough that I think she'll be happy with them.

As for my reading, I received Folks, this ain't normal by Joel Salatin for Christmas and I've been thoroughly enjoying his thoughts on everything from farming to raising children to corporate agriculture. In fact, I've found myself reading a few pages at a time and mulling his words for a few hours before continuing to another section. I'm anxiously awaiting learning more from this book!

A new year.

2012-01-03T09:40:00.000-05:00

Where to begin...where to begin.

I wish there were a more interesting tale to explain my absence from this space over the last week, but the answer is far more full of life and being in the moment with my family. We had friends visiting over the New Year's weekend and so many moments were just full of the routine care that 7 children require. (Cooking, cleaning the kitchen...break for 30 minutes, repeat.)

But the menfolk, well, they were far more ambitious.

They took advantage of the milder weather we've had this winter and decided to work on our sorely neglected garden space. We had all the best intentions when we first built a garden space in our backyard, but one thing we could figure out how to handle was the Bermuda grass that has overrun our backyard.

We would till, prepare the soil, plant and within weeks, even with constant care, the Bermuda grass would be overtaking the place and choking out the plants. By summers end, I would be frustrated with fighting it every day and then our growing season would be cut short by the Bermuda grass...he won again.

So for the last 2 years, we've just let the garden space grow up into a pile of debris and random plants. (And shelter for a family of rabbits.)

But this year we have a better plan! We're going to make raised bed gardens in that space this year so that we can hopefully beat the Bermuda grass and keep our plants intact throughout the whole growing season. We won't start too large, but maybe we can expand next year if the raised beds go well.

For now they're tilling and adding compost to the gardening area.

And when spring is almost here, we plan to till again then add landscape paper before making our raised beds in the area.

We shall see how it goes, but I'm hopeful again that we'll have better luck gardening in this space rather than trying to do everything in pots on the deck. Now I have to decide what to put in the pots!

Side note to the story: In the above photo, Paul is actually discovering that a mama mouse and her little mouse babies had taken up residence in our compost barrel. Shortly after they dumped the barrel, she scurried away with her babies attached. We only hope they made it safely to a new home and not into the bellies of one of the many hawks that constantly circle the field behind our house.

{this moment} - levitating paperclip

2011-12-30T07:30:00.000-05:00

handmade Christmas

2011-12-27T09:45:00.001-05:00

Well, the handmade Christmas presents have been distributed and well-received, which is always nice to see. I finished the last of the socks just in time, around 8 pm on Dec 23, which was a close enough call for me.

Here are all 5 pairs of socks for my family. In order of appearance and size, you see Paul's, Paulie's, Philip's, Elizabeth's and Finn's.

I was extremely pleased with how they all turned out and I think the decision to do the largest 3 pairs in sport weight superwash wool yarn was a good one. They are nice and thick for the colder weather.

Look at all of those cute feet!

And then there were the hats, most of which were knit back in the summer so I could barely remember what they looked like before I pulled them out to stuff into stockings.

Paul loves his socks as well and commented that he wishes he had 20 pairs, not that he'd want to become a knitting widower for that long. Ha! Size 13 feet make for looooonng knitting when it comes to socks.

Philip really loves his new knitted blanket as well. He's already napped and curled up in it several times, and I can tell it will be well-loved.

And on the handmade-but-not-by-me front, these earrings, which Elizabeth thought of, and she and Paulie searched the internet for, until they found these cute little handmade beauties. I couldn't be more touched by their thoughtful generosity. ♥

I hope your handmade gifts were just as loved!

a Christmas birthday

2011-12-25T13:40:00.000-05:00

On this, Finn's 5th birthday since his early Christmas morning arrival, we celebrated in the tradition we've built since having a Christmas baby. First thing this morning when he woke up, we celebrated his birthday first, over breakfast and with birthday presents, before breaking into the Christmas spirit.

I can't believe there are now *5* candles glowing in the darkness on Christmas morning. He's getting so big!

He was thrilled with his "gnome house" as he calls it, as I hoped he would be.

I'm so glad we made the choice to celebrate his birthday first and foremost on this most special and popular of holidays. He glows with delight every Christmas morning as we celebrate his birthday before moving on with the Christmas celebrations.

He ate his requested birthday breakfast of eggs, biscuits, and fruit salad as quickly as possible because presents were waiting!

Since Finn's siblings were with their respective other parents this Christmas morning, his grandparents came to celebrate with us, bring a Lego set which thrilled Finn!

Finn then opened a few more presents of a paintable ceramic bank, a wooden truck and a few books.

Then, of course, he needed to set to work straightaway. With a bank to paint, legos to build and books to read, no boredom for this birthday boy!

I hope that everyone has a merry Christmas on this beautiful day, and that my newly 5-year-old Finn has an amazing Christmas birthday.

a morning with Rembrandt

2011-12-23T16:44:00.000-05:00

Elizabeth and Paul are both great fans of Rembrandt so when we heard that Rembrandt in America was coming to the NC Museum of Art, we knew that we needed to take a morning to visit the exhibit. Today, Paul conveniently had the time off from work for the holidays so we took a break from our Christmas celebrating and headed an hour down the road to see Rembrandt's work. Of course, they wouldn't actually let me take pictures in the exhibit so you'll have to go check it out for yourself, but suffice to say we had a wonderful time. And the rest of the museum wasn't bad either. They even have a great room of American artists including many NC artists which really drew Elizabeth's attention. A pause in the middle of the holiday craziness was a marvelous idea...now on with the rest of the show!

{this moment} - Santa sighting

2011-12-23T05:57:00.000-05:00

::right now::

2011-12-22T07:44:00.002-05:00

::waiting for the end of the advent calendar::

::watching Finn's watercolored stars spin over our heads::

::creating snow-covered pinecones::

::playing games with grandparents::

::eating dinner by candlelight for solstice::

Happy solstice to all! Enjoy the cozy warmth huddled around fires, and remember that every day from here on out will have a bit more light. :)

Yarn Along

2011-12-21T08:31:00.001-05:00

First off, I'm sorry that these photos are so terrible. We are having dreary dark weather and good photos in natural light are impossible so...I did what I could.

Anyway, my Yarn Along for this week is still The Christmas Almanac that I've been reading stories from and trying recipes for the holidays. I love this book with it's many ideas and vintage Christmas pictures! I'm also still working on SOCKS! Big surprise since I bit off more than I can chew trying to make 3 pairs of socks in less than 3 weeks. I'm on the last sock now though so I definitely see the end in sight! Paulie's socks are knit in Knit Picks Felici sport in the Recess colorway. The sport yarn is definitely helping to finish these socks quickly just like the ones I was showing you last week.

And the 3 finished pairs...

It's nice to see all the accomplishment of this knitting craze. I'll have to take some feet pics one everyone has all their socks on feet. :)

I also just received another box from Knit Picks full of fun girly colorways. Elizabeth's birthday is 1 month away so no rest for the knitting-weary. (Shhh...don't tell my knitting-widower of a husband.)

Do you have any last minute Christmas present crafts to finish? Good luck to all of us in the last-minute crafting boat!

advent spiral and crafting

2011-12-18T19:56:00.001-05:00

This evening we held our annual advent spiral and holiday crafting time with our little festivals group. Having learned our lesson in the freezing wind last year, this year we planned a small tabletop spiral for the children to travel with their hands, placing their apples along the spiral path after receiving light from the angel.

The newest member of our festivals group made her first appearance. So sweet to have a new little one in the group!

Before the advent spiral, we had time for several crafts. This year we made stick trees with inspirational sayings, wool wrapped star ornaments, glittery pinecone ornaments, orange clove pomanders, and we carved our apples for the spiral.

So many busy hands while our hearts fill with love for these dear friends and how much joy they bring to our celebrations each season.

After all the hard work on so many crafts, we took a break for a small snack of holiday treats.

What is it about cherub-cheeked children eating Christmas cookies and giggling around the tree? *love that*

Each family privately went into the room with the spiral and traveled the spiral then placed their light along the path.

When each family had a turn to let their children travel the advent spiral, the entire group squeezed into our little library to admire the light and warmth.

Then we sang a few Christmas carols together. *completely magical*

Silent Night. Holy Night. All is calm; all is bright.

{this moment} - homeschooling at Christmastime

2011-12-16T05:49:00.000-05:00

a tree house for Finn

2011-12-15T15:53:00.002-05:00

As a family we try to be conscious consumers, especially where gift giving is concerned. Although we do buy a few new things each year, we try to stick with classic toys with longevity (legos, trains and tracks) and handmade items (beautiful wooden animals and playsets). Then, of course, there are plenty of mama-made gifts, such as blankets, hats, socks, sweaters and occasionally a few stuffed animals which start gracing my needles around summertime just to have everything ready by the holidays.

Occasionally, we are ever so fortunate to have a handed down item come our way, such as this beautiful tree house. Cindy (aka Boatbaby) asked me earlier this autumn if Finn might enjoy a tree house that formerly belonged to Zach, and it was all I could do not to leap through the computer screaming YES before it was offered to someone else.

Once her in-laws, who live close to us, brought the tree house to town, I spent many days dreaming how I might personalize this beautiful toy with open-ended play pieces that Finn would enjoy.

I searched etsy high and low and saw a felt leaf bed similar to the one below and thought that looked like a bed that might belong in Finn's little tree house.

So I embroidered the leaf veins and blanket stitched the bed together, adding a little pillow, for comfort of course, and then knitted a little rug in a linen stitch, using leftover sock yarn, because no one likes to get out of bed onto a cold wood floor.

My searches on etsy also led me to this shop which had the sweetest little living room set and mushroom dining table set (pictured toward the top).

I hope whichever gnome or elf decides to call this tree house home will enjoy the soft cushions, warm rugs and fireplace.

In keeping with the season, the new resident of this tree house will have a Christmas tree and a few presents.

This sweet tree house will be Finn's main birthday gift this year. (He has a Christmas birthday but we do celebrate separately and differentiate his presents.) What a wonderful feeling to give him such a full gift that cost very little money but has much love of friends and family not to mention handmade works of art to offer. The very definition of heartfelt gift giving, I think.

Now to find a little gnome, elf or fairy who might be looking for a cozy home...

Yarn Along and temporary insanity

2011-12-14T08:47:00.002-05:00

My Yarn Along this week will be brief in the talking (typing?) department because I have knitting to do! Last week when I reached the end of my Christmas knitting, I decided, in a moment of temporary insanity, that since I made socks for Finn's Christmas stocking, and since I was done with the rest of my Christmas knitting, that I should go ahead and make socks for the rest of the kids' stockings as well. One problem: it generally takes me around 2 weeks to make a pair of socks (with the normal amount of knitting I do) AND I can't do the knitting in front of the older kids which means no knitting during weekends and no knitting during evening hours (or at least until they are in bed). Yikes!

So here I am, knitting my little heart out on socks. At least I got smart when picking out yarn for the boys and bought sport weight which will make for faster sock knitting and nice thick boot socks for the winter. Elizabeth's socks are Panda Silk in Plum Tones, and Philip's are Indulgence 6-ply by Knitting Fever in color #05 (ha! gotta love that!)

I have one sock of each of Philip's and Elizabeth's pairs done and Paulie's...well, his yarn hasn't even arrived yet. But I can do it. Right? And the grumbling you hear...that just might be my knitting-widower husband groaning in loneliness at another evening spent reading beside me while I knit the night away.

I actually love Philip's colorway so much (and Philip's feet are almost as big as mine) that I'm kind of hoping the socks are still in good shape when he's outgrown them so I can adopt them. :)

Wish me luck! How is your Christmas crafting coming along?

Christmas book basket

2011-12-13T10:01:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite seasonal book basket of the year is the December book basket full of our favorite Christmas books. Separate from our strictly winter books, these books are only out for the month of December so we must soak them up as much as we can during that month. I think the arrival of the Christmas books sparks the Christmas spirit almost as much as decorating our tree, decking our halls and tuning into Christmas music.

Some of our new additions to the Christmas book basket this year are two delightful books by Sven Nordqvist, author of Findus and Pettson books, which we love. The Tomte's Christmas Porridge is an adorable tale of tomtes, adventure, forgotten porridge and, of course, Nordqvist's enchanting illustrations. Findus at Christmas is an entertaining addition to the Findus and Pettson series with all of the heart, adventure and spirit of the previous editions and the addition of Christmas cheer spread by friends and neighbors to end the book in a very satisfying holiday way.

Two other books we've been immensely enjoying this season are The Nativity, illustrated by the paintings of Juan Wijngaard and narrated with Scripture, and The Candle in the Forest, which is a lovely collection of stories full of Christmas spirit and especially suited toward slightly older children. We have used this as our nightly family reading this season.

What books make your Christmas season special?

weekending

2011-12-11T19:00:00.001-05:00

.:decking the halls:.

{this moment} - beware of bandit!

2011-12-09T05:50:00.000-05:00

Yarn Along

2011-12-07T07:21:00.002-05:00

For the Yarn Along this week, I just started flipping through Vegan Holiday Kitchen which Paul surprised me with after Thanksgiving. We aren't vegan, but I'm hoping to get some new holiday meal ideas and have some fresh, unique dishes to add to our holiday table. I also started on a hat to match the little baby sweater that I finished late last week. (You can see that photo shoot of little Miss Penelope in her new sweater here.) Since I officially finished all of the Christmas knitting I planned, I decided to add a new project. I'm making a pair of socks for Elizabeth's stocking. The yarn is Panda Silk in Plum Tones. It's yarn that I've had sitting around for a while just waiting to be made into socks for Elizabeth.

Finn's finished socks! (Look how big his feet are getting. It makes we a little wistful.)

Happy creating!

a celebration of Saint Nicholas

2011-12-06T06:53:00.000-05:00

Our family celebrates the saint, Nicholas, on his feast day of December 6. Well, actually we celebrate more on December 5, the eve of his feast.

Yesterday, St. Nicholas appeared on our nature table, as well as a postcard of him.

We also had a special, although simple, dinner of broccoli soup and buttermilk biscuits by candlelight.

Following dinner, we read a few books about St. Nicholas and discussed why he was famous, why he became a saint and what his folklore can teach us about his faith.

And then, of course, the children placed their shoes by the front door for their St. Nicholas Day gifts.

We celebrate St. Nicholas day following the traditional placing of the shoes by the door and following European tradition, their shoes are filled the following morning with a small orange, a peppermint stick and a couple of gold coins (chocolate-filled, of course!)

Do you celebrate St. Nicholas Day? How does your celebration manifest itself?

'tis the season...

2011-12-04T19:59:00.001-05:00

In all the Christmases past, or at least since Elizabeth was born, (and excepting the year that Finnegan was born on Christmas Day skewing the holiday a bit) our Christmas tree and other household decorations have been up either the weekend of Thanksgiving or the following weekend with the first few days around the beginning of December. This year, with family visiting for Thanksgiving and going out of town to visit friends this weekend, we are woefully behind on spreading the Christmas cheer throughout our home.

Clearly, being out of my normal Christmas rhythm has taken it's toll, because I forgot to buy the organic jellybeans to fill the reusable candy advent calendar until the day of Dec 1. I also haven't been listening to Christmas music and reading Christmas books around the clock like I generally am by the 4th of December. I am a celebrant who needs her rhythm!

The token decorations that have made their way out of the boxes don't hold a candle to the most precious of ornaments to adorn our fir tree. Ornaments which remind me of my childhood, my early adulthood, travels both alone and with family, special crafting with my children, beautiful handmades stumbled upon, obviously momentos that help jump start the Christmas spirit within me. For some it may be Black Friday, finding the perfect gift for a loved one, or the official start of Christmas music on the radio.

But it's becoming apparent to me that seeing the joy on my children's faces and their eagerness as they uncover their "stash" of ornaments, collected for them specifically since their births, and the ultimate glow of all of our memories of Christmas's past that ignite the fires of the warmth and trigger the official advance into the season of Christmas.

What triggers the feelings of the Christmas season for you? Are you in the spirit yet?

a sweater for Penelope

2011-12-03T14:33:00.000-05:00

The sweet little sweater that I've been knitting for the last couple of weeks is finally finished, and not a moment too soon. (Well, actually I did complete the sweater an entire day before we traveled, but that's neither here nor there.)

When my friend, Jenni, had a baby back in July, I really couldn't decide what to make for her. I did make her some booties and a matching hat, but it's really hard to knit for summer babies in the south. So I decided to wait until the weather chilled and then make her a little sweater for the winter. The sweater that grabbed my attention was this little chevron pattern in Natural Knits for Babies and Moms. The pattern is called the Fred Textured Sweater, but I think it works well for a little girl as well, especially in Carnation colored Swish DK.

The color and pattern turned out completely adorable, but I think my favorite part of the sweater might be the beautiful spalted oak buttons I acquired on etsy. Don't they add an extra little something?

So enough about the sweater, it doesn't even hold a candle to this sweet, laughing bundle of joy named Penelope Joy. (Yes, she's my namesake, well, the Joy part, anyway. Which means, she officially gets a new knitted sweater every year until she's too cool for handknits. ;)

Is there anything cuter than a baby wearing something that you lovingly made for them?

Yarn Along

2011-11-30T09:03:00.000-05:00

My Yarn Along knits for this week are not much different from last week. With the Thanksgiving holiday and family in town to celebrate, I didn't get as much knitting (or reading) done as usual, although I'm certainly not complaining. :)

I did receive a new book from my brother and his wife while they were in town. Although I enjoy cooking elaborate meals from scratch, it's nice to have some simple one-dish meals in the repertoire. I'm planning to try one of the recipes this evening, actually.

Even though the Yarn Along knitting looks largely the same, I have gotten quite a bit done. I'm on the last sleeve of this little baby sweater. Hopefully I'll be able to finish the stitching over the next 2 days so I can gift this sweet sweater over the weekend.

I'm also on the home stretch of Finn's stocking-stuffer socks. I've turned the heel on the second sock, and I'm halfway down the foot.

I have to say that I'm very happy with where I am on the Christmas knitting so far. I can always add more to the list, but I've accomplished more than I had this time last year. I should take a picture of the whole pile of Christmas knitting when I'm finished. I imagine that I would be surprised to see exactly how much I have accomplished when all of the handmade gifts are piled together. How is your holiday crafting coming along?

her handmade gifts

2011-11-28T18:52:00.001-05:00

For many years now, the kids have watched me knitting, felting, baking and otherwise crafting Christmas gifts for various family members and friends. And every year when they ask me what I want for Christmas, my typical answer is something along the lines of "whatever you want to make for me". I always get the sweetest gifts that way, especially when Paul gets involved in helping the children make a gift for me (like last year when he took them to a bead studio and helped them each make a necklace for me).

Now that Elizabeth is almost 11, she really can make some pretty neat things on her own. She was just gifted a beading loom from my brother and his family, and she has really taken to making cool beaded bracelet designs. She began thinking of the family members who she might make a bracelet or beaded key ring when she decided she needed to make a list of all the crafting talents she has and a list of family members who might like a gift from one of her talents.

One of the other crafting items on her list was a potholder woven on her potholder loom. She only had enough loops left for one potholder design so she requested I buy more loops this week.

She also designed these knitted headband/ear warmers which are really a hat knit in the round then cast off when it was time to decrease. She thinks those might take too long to make for too many people so she's saving those for the end of her Christmas crafting endeavor.

Also on her list, but we still need supplies or she hasn't had a chance to begin, bead buddies, crocheted bracelets (which she dyes with food coloring and vinegar), dipped and rolled candles and origami animals. I think she has a great plan, and she's very dedicated to crafting as much as possible over the next month. I can't wait to see everything that she accomplishes!

weekending

2011-11-27T11:21:00.001-05:00

{this moment} - cuddling with cousins

2011-11-25T09:51:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T10:21:00.003-05:00

We hope your Thanksgiving is full of delicious smells...

butter shakers...

and candle makers...

Have a lovely Thanksgiving!

Yarn Along and holiday crafting

2011-11-22T19:47:00.002-05:00

For Yarn Along this week, I'm still reading the same book, probably because I've spent all of my spare time crafting. I'm working on the front of the sweet little sweater I started last week, but I've got a bit of knitting ADD because I'm also working on a pair of socks for Finn, amongst other things. The socks are made from Stroll superwash yarn from Knit Picks in Riviera, a colorway that was discontinued last year, and I snagged several skeins for $2 each. I'm using the same Easy Toddler Socks pattern that I've made several times, only Finn's feet are getting a wee bit bigger so I'm making a few adjustments, but I'll post my notes on ravelry.

In other crafting, I spent the majority of last weekend working on Christmas gifts. For my Disney-loving nephews, I made pillowcases of Christmas Mickey fabric. (We'll be celebrating Christmas with my brother's family over Thanksgiving weekend, so my nephews will have a month of Christmas pillowcase use before Christmas actually arrives. Perfect!)

I followed the pillowcase tutorial that I've used before with the two contrasting fabrics at the edge of the pillowcase. I think this style looks so nice. I chose a Ho Ho Ho! fabric and a simple green stripe to go with the Disney fabric.

I also made this little knitted rug out of some scrap yarn (Crystal Palace Mini Mochi in Flame Rainbow, I do believe) to go with a tree house for Finn's birthday. I have much more crafting for this little gift so I'll share the whole thing when it's complete. :) The little rug is knitted in a linen stitch to look kind of like a woven rug.

I also found out last week that my father apparently had some expectations around receiving a hand-knitted hat from me for Christmas. So, I jaunted out to my local knit shop and found this soft Spud & Chloe worsted weight yarn in Lake and quickly knit up a basketweave hat for him. (Paul was kind enough to model!)

More to come as I busily elf together the rest of the crafting gifts! Handmade Christmas presents just make me so happy!

a visit to Bright Star

2011-11-21T20:25:00.000-05:00

Elizabeth, Finn and I were invited to join Bright Star, a Waldorf-based nursery school started by a couple of friends from our Waldorf festivals community, this morning since Elizabeth's school is out for the week and one of her school friends, who is also part of our festivals community, would be at the school this morning. We headed over to our friend's house, where the school is held, with a pan of gingerbread, a craft for the older kids, and hearts thankful for the generosity of this little nursery school to share their morning with us.

When we arrived, the children were already busy chopping vegetables for the morning snack.

Finn brought his chopper and joined right in. What a beautiful sight! So many colorful veggies and children's hands lovely caring for their snack preparation.

Following the veggie chopping, Elizabeth began reading to one of the little girls, and quickly had a room full of quiet children listening to her story.

We had a brief circle time of singing, including Jump Down Turn Around Pick A Bale of Cotton, which I proceeded to hear sporadically for the rest of the day!

After a few songs, we headed to the backyard to take our veggie scraps to the compost pile. One of the older kids, turned the compost pile a few times while the others scattered to find other outdoor work.

The little ones brought bucket upon bucket of leaves to mix into the compost pile.

A couple of the older kids raked the leaves.

{random beautiful shot of sweet toddler}

The bulbs and plants were watered.

More leaves gathered and piled around plants to tuck them into the ground for the winter.

And some leaves left over in which to jump and roll around.

After a few races across the backyard, we headed indoors again.

While the snack was prepared, the younger children played.

And the older children worked on a cornucopia craft.

We then ate our simple snack of quinoa with sauteed veggies.

A helpful little elf washed all of the dishes when we were finished!

A sweet story time with the background music of the kinderlyre followed our snack. The sweet music and gentle story captured the little ones attention while their tummies digested.

Then we took a short walk to a nearby park where the big kids decided to become trolls under a bridge.

And the little ones relished their role of billy goats! Trip, trap, trip, trap!

Shortly it was time to return to end our morning and begin lunch preparation.

We had such a wonderful morning with the participants of Bright Star! I'm so glad they included us in their special day. I really believe there is such a gentle nurturing to the Waldorf method of early childhood schooling (and parenting!) that is simply lovely to behold.

{this moment} - John Hancock

2011-11-18T06:08:00.002-05:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A ~~single~~ double photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. See Soulemama to play along.

::right now::

2011-11-17T12:26:00.000-05:00

::creating Thanksgiving cards::

::making pilgrim paper dolls with Grammy::

::casting on Christmas present after Christmas present::

::reading Aesop's Fables::

::drinking tea now that the weather is cooling again::

::playing with trucks on a gray day::

Yarn Along and a Christmas sweater

2011-11-15T19:49:00.000-05:00

For this week's Yarn Along I'm still working on Inconceivable, which is in turn a heart-breaking and soul-encouraging read. I'm about halfway through and completely enthralled with the journey of this family who made such a sacrifice.

I also started working on this sweet textured sweater for a friend's new little one. The pattern is the Fred Textured Sweater from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms, and the yarn is Swish DK in Carnation from Knit Picks. I think this soft, washable yarn will make the perfect winter sweater for a 6 month old sweet girl.

And Finn's Christmas sweater, that I just began last week, I finished after only 4 days. I really enjoyed working on this sweater and made a size 6 so hopefully we'll get 2 winters of use from it. (In chunky yarn and size 10 needles, it went so quickly!)

He was impish, of course, about having a photo shoot in his new sweater, but he really loves his new red Christmas sweater.

It's hard to believe its only been 2 years since I knit my first sweater, also for Finn, and now he has his fourth mama-knit sweater. A little boy who has a Christmas birthday needs a special sweater to wear each year (and also for Christmas pictures which is why he received it now instead of waiting until his actual birthday.)

Martinmas celebration

2011-11-12T08:22:00.002-05:00

We celebrated Martinmas with our little festival community last evening in the chilly November evening air. After a warm meal of soup and bread, and many other delectables, we headed outdoors with our lanterns on a path through the woods. Our lantern walk, like last year, culminated in lighting a community fire with the light from each of our lanterns. As we warmed by the fire and the children played around us, we were grateful, as always, for the opportunity to share our light amongst these dear friends. At the end of our celebration, we sent up a green sky lantern to disperse our light throughout the larger community. What a simple but special way to honor St. Martin and his generosity of spirit!

{this moment} - musicians

2011-11-11T06:01:00.000-05:00

homeschooling and audiobooks

2011-11-10T08:37:00.005-05:00

Finn's love for audiobooks reaches back to his discovery of Magic Tree House last spring. He'd been listening to audiobooks occasionally since he was three, but when he realized there was this world of "Jack and Annie" and that our local library had books 1-40 on CD for him to borrow, the love truly began. He plundered his siblings shelves for any MTH books he could find and he'd gather them, turn on a CD and flip through the book, finding the pictures of the story being narrated.

His love for audiobooks hasn't stopped there. In fact, he first fell in love with the world of Thomas the Train through books and CDs rather than the television. (Not that the marketing can be avoided whichever direction you learn them from. Oy.) He is also partial to Just So Stories, fairy tales, Dragon Tales, James Herriot, Frog and Toad and many other audio stories.

When we first bought his CD player this summer, it was with the hope that he would listen to some stories in the evening when his siblings are reading in bed. Not only did this work amazingly well, we have to go into his room and switch out his book cd for a music cd around 8:30 because, left to his own devices, he's been known to listen to audiobooks until 10 pm or after.

When we started homeschooling this fall, it never occurred to me that Finn would see this as an opportunity to listen to audiobooks every waking hour that his siblings aren't home to play. I do ask him to pause the stories for specific things that we do each time, like our reading, poetry, and other work, but through many-a craft, coloring and writing, he listens and works at the same time. And anytime I'm not working with him on something, he's playing while listening to books.

At first I wondered whether I should be making him turn the books off a little more frequently for us to do other work. Am I being a slack homeschooling mom because I let the audiobooks do so much of the work (or entertaining)? But when I hear him randomly spout off facts, like where Pompei is located or when the Titanic sank, I know he is learning. But although I've heard many times the benefits of audiobooks, I still thought of audiobooks as inferior to reading for some reason. Until Finn's obsession, that is.

Now when I see him playing with trains, if the CD player happens to be off, I hear him narrating his play, "I shall. I shall make it up the hill, murmured Percy as he chugged up the track." We are also regularly asked questions like "what does baffled mean?" or hear exclamations like, "there is something disturbing me in my sock but I can't discover what it is!" While riding his bike down a hill the other day, Finn steered over to me and proclaimed, "I'm gasping for breath because I gathered speed coming down that hill."

One of the benefits I've often heard touted for audiobooks is increased vocabulary, I don't think I really understood what that could mean, especially with a child who listens to audiobooks up to 4-5 hours almost every day. I could spend a month focused on increasing his vocabulary for 30 minutes a day during one-on-one time, and I'm convinced that he wouldn't have nearly the grasp on language that he currently does. Finn has always had a rather large vocabulary and an interest in words so it only makes sense that audiobooks would be so appealing to him.

Maybe he'll be a poet, writer, educator, (or someone who indefinitely studies literature so he can hang out in college reading forever) or maybe he'll just remember with fondness the year he spent listening to audiobooks continuously.

Yarn Along

2011-11-08T21:50:00.000-05:00

For Yarn Along this week, I'm just starting Finn's Christmas sweater, although I picked out a pattern with bulky yarn (Cadena in cranberry) and size 10 needles so hopefully it will be a quick sweater project. I'm at the tedious back part of the sweater, but it's great mindless knitting for chatting with my mom now that she's in the country for several weeks.

I just started reading Inconceivable, after having it on my hold list at the library for a few months. I can't imagine being put into the position that this family found themselves, and I'm intrigued by their story.

In other knitting news, I finished the hat that I began last week. The Koolhaas pattern was such a fun knit, and I'm sure I'll be knitting it again soon. The hat is for a friend, and I hope it is well-enjoyed in it's funky color and pattern as I'm sure it will be.

What are you working on right now?

Any Room For Me?

2011-11-07T19:47:00.001-05:00

Several years ago we bought this adorable winter book by the name of Any Room For Me? to add to our winter book basket. Around the same time, I found an etsy seller, which I featured here, who had an adorable handmade wooden animals and felted wool mitten set to accompany the story. The story and toy set have remained one of our favorite winter book basket treasures.

Fast forward to homeschooling Finn this year and my decision to order a couple of magazines for Finn and I to leaf through during our reading time each morning. One of the magazines that I decided to order for him, after great consideration because the magazine was on the expensive side, was Ladybug magazine. This magazine is truly a treasure for young children. With finger plays, folk songs (with links to the audio file online), poetry, beautiful gentle illustrations, and seasonal story goodness, this magazine is chock full of so much to enjoy that it generally takes us 2-3 days to wade through the entire issue and even then we frequently come back to the stories or songs for the rest of the month.

How delighted were we to discover that the Nov/Dec issue, which just arrived, contained the story and beautiful illustrations to our beloved Any Room For Me? But even more exciting, the sheet of paper animals, mitten, woodpile and a cottage to be cut and assembled and played with ALL. DAY. LONG. Needless to say, we didn't get any further in this issue. ;)

Finn did most of the cutting of the paper animals by himself, with a little bit of help on the cottage. He did have to tape a couple that tore in inconvenient places, but that's part of the scissor-learning process.

And he was able to match the mouse, frog, hare, fox, wild boar and huge bear to all of his wooden pieces from his mitten set. How exciting!

All day Finn alternately narrated the story with his paper animals,

and wooden animals. What a sweet kind of play to capture his imagination!

I'm sure we'll get more use out of both animal sets, the magazine, and the book over the coming months as we head into winter.

And I can't wait to see what other good bits are in this issue of Ladybug. I already saw a peek of knitting, sheep, mittens and hot cocoa on other pages. As Finn excitedly says, "more to come! There's more to come, Mama!"

5k

2011-11-06T08:21:00.000-05:00

{Paulie and a friend, goofing off before the race}

Paulie ran his 9th 5k on Saturday morning in near freezing conditions, which I think were harder on the spectators than the runners. He didn't beat his best time of 21 minutes but came in at a respectable 24 minutes so he was happy. Congratulations, Paulie, on another well-run race!

{this moment} - the hours of his day

2011-11-04T06:01:00.001-04:00

Yarn Along

2011-11-02T10:07:00.004-04:00

I'm finally on to something new for this Yarn Along. The socks and scarf are finally finished, and I'm so over looking at them that I didn't even take a photo of the finished products. I'm really feeling pressed to get to a few Christmas present projects so onward and upward. This yarn that I showed you last week is on the needles now. Pumpkin Pie Baby left me a link for the Koolhaas pattern, and I thought it was just perfect for this hand-dyed unusual green organic wool yarn that I acquired at our sheep farm's farm fest recently.

You can see that I'm just starting to get into the cables so maybe next week there will be more pattern to actually see. (Or if I'm lucky, maybe it will be finished!)

We're still doing quite a bit of seasonal reading right now, including a beautiful poem called November by Alice Cary from one of our favorite poetry books.

in the kitchen...

2011-11-01T14:08:00.002-04:00

It's been about 2 months since I started experimenting with soaked grains and other kitchen "brews". Even if every single experiment hasn't been a resounding success (ahem, water kefir), I've learned so much from each trial and error and have developed quite a repertoire of recipes that the family enjoys.

One of our favorite breads lately is this soaked spelt pumpkin bread. It literally disappears the minute I cut it. It doesn't rise too much, but the bread really is not dense. One coincidental benefit I've noticed since I began soaking grains is that whole grains that are soaked don't really have the dense whole grain taste. They really are quite light if not visually fluffy.

Similarly, these blender pancakes (and the gingerbread counterpart, which we'll be trying this weekend) have become our go-to pancake recipe. Even though they look as flat as, well, a pancake, they are ever so slightly sour and quite delicious. I've even subbed 1/2 cup of the buttermilk with 3/4 cup of pumpkin (and added a few spices) to make blender pumpkin pancakes.

In other kitchen brewing news, after listening to the kids protest the "runny" yogurt for a week or so, I started straining the whey out of the yogurt which seemed to solve their problems. I strain the yogurt on muslin for 1/2 - 1 hour before mixing the yogurt with some vanilla syrup or jam. Much happier children!

The added benefit of this discovery: whey! Now I have a near constant supply of whey which we use for thinning oatmeal, adding to smoothies, or...

fermented ketchup! The kids are a little less-than-enthused about the ketchup, so I'm still mixing regular ketchup with this fermented ketchup on their plates. But hopefully they'll convert soon. I decided during this batch to add a bit more raw honey so we'll see if that helps the taste. I actually really enjoy the slightly tart taste and the raw acv, honey and whey are awesome additions. I also discovered that a half cup of this ketchup with 1/2 tsp of Bragg's liquid aminos, 1 tbsp molasses and a rounded 1/2 tbsp brown sugar makes a great barbecue sauce!

I'm starting to get just a bit better at meal planning too which meals that any grain or bean that can be sprouted is being soaked for a few days before consumption.

I usually remember to remove the soaking grains, etc from the oven before turning it on, although we've had a few close calls! Probably 5-6 days each week my oven now looks like this when you open the door:

That oven light is the perfect temperature regulator for soaking grains, culturing yogurt and sourdough. After losing a bit of momentum on my sourdough over the summer, what with travel and a generally hot kitchen, I'm back to making weekly sourdough and my sourdough starter has returned to good health. (I had some wonky, flat-ish loaves for a while that I'm now convinced were the result of the starter resting too long and needing to build up a good supply of beneficial bacteria.)

(I had some wonky, flat-ish loaves for a while that I'm now convinced were the result of the starter resting too long and needing several weeks of regular use to build up a good supply of beneficial bacteria again.)

The proof is in the bagels. The sourdough is back and better than ever! My goal, after some heavy hinting to the husband, is to somehow acquire this long stoneware loaf pan so I can make more of our sandwich bread.

It's all a process, and I'm learning more every day! Have you been working with soaking, fermenting or culturing lately? Please share!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T20:05:00.000-04:00

From: a hobbit, Mario, an alien, and a knight

navigating the corn

2011-10-30T10:10:00.004-04:00

Elizabeth attended a birthday party for one of her closest friends (since kindergarten) at a corn maze nearby. The weather had been chilly and rainy on Friday so we were unsure if the corn maze would happen, but the sun came out late Saturday morning and the clear, chilly autumn skies opened up to reveal a beautiful autumn day.

I volunteered to help with the driving since there were more girls than would fit in the birthday girl's car (or maybe it was to get out of the renovation in the library at home, ahem).

The girls (and birthday girl's brother and friend) headed out into the maze, each group determined to solve the puzzle and find each of the 6 stations before the other groups.

Off they go, puzzle book in hand!

But everywhere you looked, there was corn...corn...(beautiful autumn light)

and more corn.

Eventually, and with the help of a worker that we kept running into,

we all found the various stations, solved the puzzle, then navigated our way out of the corn.

To a big giant jumping pillow. (just what you find beside every field of corn, no?)

I'm so glad I was able to attend, walk the maze, take some photos, and celebrate with one of Elizabeth's oldest friends. Happy birthday, Katie!

a week full of acorns

2011-10-27T12:55:00.002-04:00

Our week full of acorn learning began with our trek through the forest this weekend. Although we've gathered acorns a few times already this autumn, we gathered a fresh stock and tried to find a variety of sizes this time.

Now that the acorn are easily separating from the caps, we left the acorns behind for our furry friends' nourishment and only brought the caps home with us to use for crafting and other projects.

Finn enjoyed taking a few acorn caps and arranging them in size order from smallest to largest.

We also measured a few of them by seeing how many black beans would fit in each one. Our smallest cap would only hold 3 black beans, whereas our largest could hold 13!

We needle felted some acorns in various colors.

And we glued them into caps to make colored wool acorns. (Finn really got into the smallest-to-largest arrangement.)

After they dried we placed them our nature table with some of the acorns we gathered late this summer.

We did some acorn coloring, drawing and writing.

We even cracked open a few of our older acorns to see the nuts inside. We wondered how our squirrel friends open the nuts to retrieve the edible parts since we use a nutcracker.

Finn wondered what the acorn meat might taste like, but I discourage his sampling since these acorns have been sitting on our nature table for a few months already.

We decided to roast some chestnuts instead and pretend we're squirrels while peeling off the chestnut skin. Our "acorn" substitutes were pretty tasty!

We borrowed several books on acorns and squirrels from the library and read Woody, Hazel and Little Pip many times over the week.

We decided to make our own Woody and Little Pip Acorn out of peg dolls, green material from our scrap basket and some acorn caps.

We even cut a leaf out of a watercolor painting for Woody and Little Pip to fly down from the tree.

And down they flew over and over. I think we read this page about 20 extra times, just for practice. ;)

What a fun week of acorn exploration!

Yarn Along

2011-10-26T08:47:00.000-04:00

Well, here we are at another Yarn Along (joining the fabulous Ginny) and I'm sitting here with the same old projects. The scarf and socks are both relatively close to being finished, but I need to just get them DONE already so I can move on to another, hopefully more inspiring, project. I did make a quicky little bookmark out of the red sock yarn, which I finished in a couple of short hours, but when I looked for it to take a picture, *poof* it was gone. I have my suspicious (ahem, Elizabeth) of who might have swiped it so maybe I'll get a picture of it soon.

I just wrapped up reading a few different books, including Come to the Edge, which was better than I expected, but I've returned them to the library so I don't have a photo. Finn and I just finished reading The Children of Noisy Village and we plan to start The Wind In The Willows today. I can't recommend either of those books highly enough. We love them and they have been read numerous times in our home. The Wind In The Willows edition we have is illustrated by Inga Moore, who draws the mostly lovely, ethereal and heart-warming illustrations. I prefer her illustrations in many of our favorite books.

I also have 2 projects waiting in the wings that don't have a good pattern yet. Maybe you can help? The blue worsted Malabrigo is going to be a hat for Elizabeth, but I just haven't found an inspiring hat pattern yet. I'm also looking for a boy-ish hat pattern for the green. They are both soft and gorgeous yarns, and I want to make a hat that really shows off the lovely color and texture of each yarn.

Until next week...

her perspective

2011-10-25T20:03:00.000-04:00

Of all of our children, Elizabeth is probably the most aware of composition, balance, and perspective. She attends an art-based elementary school and has dabbled in many mediums, although her least experience is probably in photography. In an effort to give her a little bit of exposure to photography, we are occasionally handing her the camera and sending her outside to find 10-20 interesting shots. "Interesting", of course, being up to interpretation by her.

I plan to expand past our backyard and take her on hikes and other places for the express purpose of seeing the scenery through her lens. She certainly has a perspective that we want to encourage and develop.

Her next question, of course, is when does she get her own camera?!

weekending

2011-10-23T18:11:00.000-04:00

enjoying the beautiful autumn

~weather~

and ~color~

together.

{this moment} - helping hands

2011-10-21T06:02:00.000-04:00

pumpkin week

2011-10-20T13:13:00.002-04:00

We decided to make this week of homeschooling our pumpkin week. In addition to reading all about the life cycle of pumpkins, and plenty of fun pumpkin picture books too, we've examined a pumpkin patch, cooked a pumpkin, counted pumpkin seeds, and done plenty of pumpkin art.

We roasted most of the seeds from our little pie pumpkins, and saved a few for crafts.

We observed the difference in the pumpkin flesh after baking.

We stirred some spices, juice and sugar into our pumpkin mush.

And we watched our pumpkin mush turn into pumpkin butter. We decided to save one jar for our Thanksgiving dinner!

We practiced writing the word pumpkin.

And coloring pumpkins.

We told pumpkin rhymes (that I learned at the Steiner Institute).

In my garden grows a pumpkin

orangy and gold.

Along came a little mouse
so the story goes.

Nibble, nibble went the mouse;

'til the pumpkin was a house:

two small windows

and a door

and lots of feathers on the floor.

There the mouse slept well, I know,

even when the cold winds blow.

Finn needle felted his own pumpkin.

And even though I tried to convince him to put it on our nature table for everyone to enjoy,

he decided to string it and hang it in his bedroom window, "to glow in the sun" as he put it.

Finn also drew the rough outline of a pumpkin on watercolor paper and then painted his pumpkin and the background.

(I love how the pumpkin looks like it's glowing.) And we decided to add some seeds to the pumpkin's tummy.

celebrating Philip

2011-10-18T20:34:00.001-04:00

We took some time to celebrate the shyest, most sensitive and sweet member of our clan this evening. Philip turns 9 tomorrow but will be celebrating with his mom so we took this evening as an opportunity to get a head start on the festivities. He's a true autumn boy with a warmth that radiates from his smile and his ever-present hugs.

Elizabeth decided to celebrate him by making a throne to seat him at dinner. I wasn't quite sure he'd be able to stay on the chair aloft those fluffy pillows, but he managed just fine.

Oh, and she dressed him in kingly robes. Doesn't he look celebrated?!

He must be getting old. That's quite a large fire. :)

He chose to have homemade macaroni and cheese and steamed broccoli for his birthday meal.

And following the birthday song, and blowing out the candles, we feasted on the chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches that he requested as his birthday dessert.

He definitely enjoyed being the center of attention and love for the evening and he even had a bit of a surprise. Even though he knew it was his year to receive an ipod, he thought it would be for Christmas. A priceless reaction and he's already dreaming of new audiobooks he can't wait to listen to.

Happy birthday to our Philip Henry! We hope *9* is an amazing year for you!

autumn's golden light

2011-10-16T18:01:00.002-04:00

Autumn's golden light is bathing every nook and cranny.

And we are soaking up the last of her warmth for as long as it lasts.

{this moment} - back porch cookin'

2011-10-14T06:58:00.002-04:00

{nut juice and nuts roasted on a "solar oven"}

an adventure

2011-10-13T13:02:00.000-04:00

Finn and I embarked on an adventure yesterday afternoon which we only returned from a few hours ago. And what an adventure it was!

A good friend whom I have known since childhood had triplets this summer, and following NICU stays and the generally craziness of baby times 3, I had not gotten the chance to meet them yet. When my friend invited me to come stay with her for a night to help her while her husband and mother were unavailable, I was happy to head an hour down the road to help her with overnight feedings.

I learned that 3 babies can be very difficult to photograph with their eyes open and no one crying and that juggling 3 infants is indeed as difficult as it sounds. My friend does it with head-on determination and grace. What a champion of a mother!

On our return trip this morning, I decided to take advantage of geographic proximity and stop by (well, it was only 25 miles out of our way) a local organic mill.

Finn admired the tall grain silos and clutched my hand desperately, a little nervous about the noise.

But we left with 25 lbs of organic all purpose and 25 lbs of organic whole spelt.

All for a fraction of the cost of buying it in bulk at the grocery store.

We also passed our favorite farmer's market, and even though the rain began pouring, we decided to stop for more produce to put away for winter. Finn picked out 2 pumpkins to make pumpkin butter.

And I collected several 2nd quality peppers and 15 more lbs of tomatoes.

And now, once I've had a nap, I guess canning more tomatoes will be next on our adventure list!

Yarn Along and other crafting

2011-10-12T10:56:00.000-04:00

Still plugging along on some of the same old projects over here. The reading is a little repetitive as well since the books I've posted today are the ones that we've been reading to Finn every day now that autumn is here. Pumpkin Moonshine is his favorite, but he'll take I Like Pumpkins (a cheap Scholastic book we bought when Elizabeth was 4 and still remains a favorite around here, go figure) and Woody, Hazel and Little Pip as often as we'll read those as well.

I'm still working on the socks, although I'm wading through the heel of the second sock so that's progress. I'm working on a scarf for a Christmas present as well. It's a pretty quick knit using this pattern, and I'm picking it up here and there when I have a few minutes.

The biggest amount of knitting lately has been on Finn's chain maille helmet. Remember the chain maille sweater I made him months ago? I'm just getting around to his helmet now that Halloween is bearing down. But it's finished, and he couldn't be cuter!

Wanting to do some seasonal crafting that did not involve knitting, I picked up this beeswax candle at the farmer's market the other day and decided to make an autumn tree candle using decorating wax.

Now the kids won't let me burn it! :)

last breath of summer

2011-10-11T13:58:00.000-04:00

Not much blogging has been happening in the last several days because I've been busy spending time with these fellows. At $.40/lb for the dented and bruised tomatoes at one of my favorite farmer's market stand, I felt the need to put away the last bits of summer before they disappeared entirely. I hope to get another basketful or two before the end of the weekend. Aren't they pretty? (well, if you ignore their "dents and bruises")

10 lbs made into spaghetti sauce

14 lbs to can as chopped tomatoes

I know we'll be glad to have these once the cooler weather is here to stay!

a weekend hike and a random act of kindness

2011-10-09T20:01:00.001-04:00

This weekend our friends, the Callahans, came to town for the weekend with their 3 little ones. Most of the weekend was spent in scenes like this with the kids eagerly entertaining baby Penelope or running around the backyard together.

And who wouldn't want to entertain this little cutie!

But on Saturday evening we decided to spring for a change of scenery and the park we opted to visit turned out to be a most providential choice.

Beginning with a picnic dinner, we enjoyed our veggies, hummus, fruit, crackers and cheese before heading over to a delightful vine for swinging.

The littles couldn't quite get the hang of vine swinging, so they elected to manically dance for a bit.

Except Penelope...isn't she just too sweet!

Shortly after the vine swinging, as we were packing to leave our picnicking area, Elizabeth spied this sweet little wind chime hanging in the tree. Upon further inspection, we realized this was a Ben's Bell, and Elizabeth happily untied the chime and read the card, which instructed her to take the bell home to her own yard and pass on the kindness. What a beautiful reminder to treasure the precious things in our lives and show kindness to those we meet!

We continued our walk through the park,

smelling the flowers,

swinging together,

and trying to keep up with the big kids.

(Isn't Paulie such a good big kid friend!)

Eventually we decided to cross the street to another park to wander through the trees looking for ducks and geese.

But the sun quickly began to drop behind the horizon and we decided to make our way back to the car. Imagine our surprise when, as we were leaving, we spotted another Ben's Bell! Now our friends had a bell to take home with them, made doubly special by the fact that they also lost a Ben. Talk about passing on kindness! Clearly these bells were meant for us and our friends, and I'm so glad in the falling darkness they made their presence known.

Now our Ben's Bell hangs in our backyard maple where Elizabeth chose to hang it. I hope Jenni will post a picture of where their Ben's Bell hangs. My heart is bursting from these random acts of kindness that made our evening, and weekend, so special. I can't wait to pass the kindness on.

{this moment} - first fire of autumn

2011-10-07T06:32:00.003-04:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo (or three) - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. See Soulemama to play along.

ten things

2011-10-06T14:13:00.000-04:00

Yesterday when Soulemama posted her ten simply good things, I thought that would be a fun way to share ten good things that are happening in my world right now. But as today is the 6th anniversary of the day that Paul and I married and merged our families, I decided that ten things about us and our life together would be even better!

4 kids, 2 by birth and 2 by marriage, all 4 amazing and I'm blessed to call them mine
a husband who does the dishes every night
someone to make me laugh all.the.time.
a husband who makes me coffee every morning
someone to listen to one of my many "plans"
a partner who thinks I'm crazy for wanting to take 4 kids to London or Alaska, but gamely helps me manage the craziness
a daddy who can roughhouse with the kids one minute and then recite poetry with them while they curl up in bed the next
someone who will drop everything he's doing at a moment's notice if I merely suggest that I'm in the mood for sweet potato fries from Finnigan's Wake
an amazing husband who will send me off to camp or classes and stay home with the kids for a week at a time and make it seem effortless
someone who has been with me through thick and thin, laughing and crying, sunshine and rain for 6 years now and still thinks I'm the most beautiful person in the world and the most fun to spend time with

I love you, Paul!

celebrating Paulie

2011-10-04T20:03:00.000-04:00

Today we celebrate the oldest of our children turning 12! It's officially our last year before teenagerhood descends!

Paulie awoke this morning to a beautiful table filled with the birthday ring and his birthday presents and ate his favorite pancakes before heading off to school.

One of the many things I love about Paulie is that, even though he is 12, he is not too old to don a fireman's hat and play with trains. He and Finn spend many an hour wrapped up in each other and these trains.

He chose a birthday dinner of homemade pizza and green smoothies, which was sidelined by our car battery deciding to die this afternoon. Even though Newman made our pizzas, Paulie was content, and we had a lovely dinner celebrating his new year of life.

After some wishing,

and blowing out candles,

he eagerly tried the "ice cream lasagna" which he requested for his birthday dessert. He's always wanted to try a layered dessert of ice cream, crushed Newman's Os and whipped cream so we made it a birthday treat. We received quite a sugar shock, and I don't think any of us will need dessert again for a week!

Paulie received a few gifts and was particularly fond of the stop-motion Animation book he had seen at a science gift shop months ago.

He also enjoyed putting together an electric paper airplane launcher. The kids each took a few turns launching airplanes when he finished. Unfortunately it was too dark by then for any photos. I think the airplane launcher will receive lots of action this weekend though!

Happy birthday, Paulie! We're so glad you've been with us for 12 years now. We hope you have an amazing year ahead!

at the county fair

2011-10-03T20:50:00.003-04:00

Every year when October rolls around, the county fair opens. I always pine for the county fair of Farmer Boy, Charlotte's Web and my grandmother's stories of when her father used to show apples at the very fair we attend. Alas, the county fair has changed a bit since Almanzo's and my grandmother's time, which doesn't stop me from waxing nostalgic, but does generally give me pause about taking the entire family for an evening of expensive-game-playing, junk-food-peddling, not-particularly-enjoyable county fair.

When I heard that the county fair was free for "school day", I decided to take Finn for the morning because in my opinion, this was the perfect time to go since the fair opened 2 hours early for the school kids. The rides and gross food options were not yet in service which means only the best parts of the fair were available for enjoyment. Finn and I truly had a wonderful time, and it was almost the county fair of my fantasy. We spent the entire morning visiting farm animals, examining veggies, both large (5 lb 14.7 oz sweet potato, anyone?) and unusual, watching a border collie sheep herding, wandering through Yesterday Village, cheering for racing (and swimming) swine, feeding goats (and you know how he loves the goats!), and participating in a fire safety exercise that included escaping from a smoky room through a window (very exciting!) Hooray for a brisk autumn morning spent at a nostalgia-satiating county fair!